1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastener assembly for mounting a constituent member of various types to a receiving member corresponding thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To mount a constituent member of an apparatus to a receiving member thereof, metallic fastening means such as screws and bolts and nuts are generally used. The conventional metallic fastening means have drawbacks in that the process of mounting by using such metallic means is complicated, and especially when the constituent member is fastened at a number of points, the workability of the metallic fastening means is very low. Besides, the metallic fastening means sometimes rust, and the appearance of the fastened portion tends to become unseemly. When the metallic fastening means are used for mounting constituent members made by molding resins, the fastened portions of the constituent members may be exposed to stress concentration, which leads to breakage of the members.
To overcome the drawbacks of the metallic fastening means, resin clips of various types have been proposed for resiliently mounting or fastening constituent members to receiving members corresponding thereto. The resin clips of the prior art provide some improvement of the workability by the so-called one-touch mounting, and provide effects of preventing rust and protecting constituent members during mounting operations. However, the resin clips of the prior art have shortcomings in that, when a constituent member of an apparatus is disassembled or removed from a receiving member corresponding thereto, at least that portion of the resin clip which is fitted in either of the constituent member and receiving member must be elastically deformed by a suitable tool for releasing the locking engagement therebetween, so that the workability of the resin clips during the disassembling is generally lower than that of the metallic fastening means, e.g., screws and bolts and nuts. If the resin clips are broken at the time of disassembling and remain in the receiving member, cumbersome process of removing the residual portion of the resin clip from the receiving member is necessary before reassembling the constituent member thereto.